Jet landed his Hammerhead on the runway of The Bebop. He entered in through the ship bay hangar door carrying brown paper bags filled with groceries. Spike was lying on the couch. When Spike saw Jet he sat up and rubbed his eye.

"Finally, what took you so long?" said Spike.

"I got held up." said Jet as he walked down the small steps.

"With what?" asked Spike.

"An old coworker." said Jet.

"Oh not with trips down memory lane again." whined Spike.

"Oh, shut it." said Jet. He set down the groceries on the coffee table and sunk down into the chair. He sighed and rubbed his face. As Jet gazed at the ceiling fan he spoke again, "It seems like every time I see an old face it's always depressing or sorry. Why can't it ever just be joyful for once. I don't know…" Jet then heard the brown bags rummaging. He turned his attention to Spike and asked "Are you listening to me?"

Spike was tearing apart the packaging with his teeth and devouring the food.

"At least take the damn wrapper off before you eat it!" shouted Jet.

Spike grinned and softly chuckled through his teeth. Faye then entered the room wearing a bathrobe and a towel wrapped her head. "Oh, you're back so soon huh?" she said sarcastically.

Jet turned to face her. "Yeah, you here to gripe too?" he said.

"Hey don't get all hostile with me, I'm just glad you came back with food," said Faye as she leaned over to grab a package from the coffee table, "And with my half of the reward."

"That's all you really care about, huh?" said Jet.

"Duh." said Faye.

"Well I'm not giving it to you yet; I already said most of it is going to pay for damages." said Jet.

"No way, not my half! It should be taken out of Spike's half!" Faye shouted with her hands on her hips.

"I don't really get a half, it's not like I can use my card or anything. I'm living off of what little cash allowances Jet gives me." said Spike.

"So then what happens with your share?" asked Faye.

"It goes to me." said Jet pointing at himself with his thumb.

"Well how's that fair?!" asked Faye.

"It's not fair! This is my ship, if you don't like it you can leave!" barked Jet.

Faye stayed silent and stared at Jet with disdain.

"Okay calm down we've been over this before, no one's going anywhere," said Spike, "Be smart about it Faye, Jet needs the bigger half."

Faye sighed. "Fine." she said with her arms crossed.

Jet sat with his arms crossed as well. "Okay look, just too be nice I'll make it an even number and give you 500 thousand." he said. Jet then reached inside his pocket for the exchanger device and his card. "Here, give me yours." he said as he extended out his arm.

Faye uncrossed her arms and dug her hand into her bathrobe. "Here." she said as she pulled out her card.

Jet took the card from her hand and inserted both of them into the exchanger. The device beeped and Jet pulled out the card and handed it back to Faye.

Faye stuffed the card into her bathrobe and left the main room.

Jet rubbed his head and sighed. He reached into his pocket and rummaged around for a carton of cigarettes. He pulled out the container and slid a cigarette out. He placed the cigarette between his lips and offered Spike one. Spike's fingers snatched a cigarette from the box. Meanwhile Jet lit his own, then Spike's. The two sat back and blew a cloud of smoke at the same time.

"How do you put up with us?" asked Spike.

"I don't know I've always had this thing where I set myself up for pain." said Jet.

"Pain in the ass you mean?" said Spike whimsically.

Jet chuckled. "Yeah…" he said.

Then Faye re-entered the room with her regular attire on. She put the yellow headband through her hair and grabbed her bomber jacket.

Spike and Jet looked at her curiously. "Where are you going?" asked Spike.

"To deposit the money." said Faye as she climbed the steps.

"Depositing it at the casino again huh?" said Spike jokingly.

"No." said Faye with hostility.

"The horse races then?" asked Spike

Faye stood still and stayed silent for a second. She then growled angrily and left through the ship hangar door. Spike smirked.

"500 was a little too generous, if you ask me." said Jet.

After Lee and the other Red Dragon members had left the meeting, Lee sat in his sleek black car. He had his elbow resting on the ledge of the window and his fingers on his forehead. His cell-phone was sitting in the passenger's seat began ringing. Lee looked down at it and reached out to grab it.

Shiro spoke on the other end, "Sir where are you?" he asked.

"I'm in my car, why?" asked Lee.

"I don't know… it's uh, well it's about Kleinman. Are you absolutely sure about this?" asked Shiro.

"I'm positive." said Lee.

"But if he's as important as you say, then I'm worried it's going to blow up in our face." said Shiro.

"We're not going to kill him. We're going in there with as little violence as possible; I don't need any more police officers or Blue Snake members breathing down our necks." said Lee.

"Do you really think he's going to give us their supplier? And even if he does, what are we going to do with it?" asked Shiro.

Lee took a deep breath. "Look Shiro, if you are that worried about it then come along and watch," he said looking out the window at the night sky, "I have the feeling all you really want it is to figure out your place in all of this."

"Well I feel like I have a right to assurance." said Shiro.

"You feel like you have a right to assurance? Shiro, responsibilities are constantly changing, sure you have a set position, but if I trust you enough to transcend it then you shouldn't have to worry." said Lee.

A week had passed; in the Ganymede police station Donna sat her desk. The desk was cluttered with paper work and trash and one single picture frame of her son. Her brown hair was in a ponytail and she was reading her computer screen. Then she rolled back her chair and bent over to pull out a drawer from her desk and grab a pen. She started writing on a sheet of paper, but no ink was coming out. She scribbled on the paper rapidly and then she shook the pen and tried to write with it again. The pen didn't work so she threw it in her already overflowing wastebasket. Donna sighed and said "Useless."

Two police officers ran pass Donna and continued down the aisle between the desks. Soon officers at their desks began standing up and walking in the same direction. "Huh?" said Donna as she saw more and more officers leaving and gathering at the front desk. She spun her chair around to see what was going on. Bob then casually passed by her with a cup of coffee in his hand. Donna reached out and grabbed his arm, pulling him down toward her. "Hey! Watch it Donna!" said Bob as he regained his balance.

"Bob, what's going on over there?" asked Donna.

Bob turned his head to face the commotion. "You mean at the front desk? We got an anonymous tip on where Bardon is hiding." he said.

"Demetrius Bardon? That guy's been missing for ages. Where'd they say he was?" asked Donna.

"At the dry docks in the lower part of district eight."

"Do they know who made the call?"

Bob chuckled lightly. "No, we couldn't track it or get a voice ID. The guy used one of the last payphones left in this solar system." he said.

"Well who are they sending out to go check on it?"

"Word needs to get to the sergeant first, and then he'll assign someone."

"Then I think I'll go have a word with him and tell him to assign me," said Donna, standing out of her chair, "And you're going with me."

"Whoa, no way I want to stay out of this as much as possible." said Bob.

"Well I'm not going to need you to do anything. I just want you there because if they're gonna stick me with a partner then I want some lazy bum who's going to stay out of the way." said Donna with a smirk.

"All right fine, whatever you say Shapiro."

Jet and Spike were inside the ship bay hangar working on the Swordfish. Most of it had been repaired. The hangar door was open to let the sun-light in. Spike was moving wires in the wing console while Jet was working on parts under the ship. Spike closed the console and climbed up the Swordfish into the pilot's seat.

"Okay Jet I'm going to turn it on and see if the wings stopped making that grinding noise." said Spike.

Jet rolled out from under the Swordfish on a roller board and stood up to move the tools out of the way. "All right hold on." he said.

Once Jet put his tools away in the toolbox Spike put the large key into the ignition and turned the Swordfish on. The Swordfish hummed quietly as it idled; Spike turned the handles and the wing flaps turned smoothly.

"All right, that's better." said Spike with a smirk. He then revved the thrusters when something clattered to the floor and the fuel began leaking out through the bottom.

Jet put his hands head. "No dammit! Spike turn it off!" he shouted.

Spike sighed and turned off the Swordfish. "What the hell's wrong with this stupid thing?" he said.

"I'm surprised this junk isn't scrap metal already." said Jet.

"She's got her fair share of problems but this baby's gonna go down when I do."

"That's called wishful thinking." said Jet as he placed the toolbox on the left wing of the Swordfish.

"Eh, maybe." said Spike, leaping out of the pilot's seat. He climbed down the side of the Swordfish while Jet observed at the underside of the ship.

"Well looks like I'll have to give another go." said Jet.

Faye then entered in through the small door. She leaned on the railing and looked down at Spike and Jet working on the Swordfish.

"Are you guys done with that piece of crap already, it's blocking the runway." said Faye.

"Yeah, yeah hold on." said Jet rolling back under the Swordfish.

"Piece of crap? This thing makes your dainty little ship look like an annoying fly." said Spike.

"You're making fun of my ship? Your ship is the reason the whole interior of this trawler has to get a smog check every week." said Faye.

Spike scoffed. "Yeah, right." he said.

Faye walked down the staircase to the ground floor of the ship hangar. "Well I'm getting my ship out of here whether you move yours out of the way or not." she said. She passed Spike and went around the Swordfish to the back.

Spike followed after her. "Hey, hold on a minute." he said.

Faye approached her Redtail and opened the hatch. Spike then went up to her. "It's going to be pretty tough to get it out of here you know." he said.

"Yeah, yeah I think I can handle it Spike." said Faye.

"Where do you have to be in such a hurry?" asked Spike.

"Oh yeah right, like you care."

"I don't care; I just need to know if it's absolutely necessary that I have to move my ship out of the way."

Faye climbed up into the seat of the Redtail and put her hands on the handles. "I told you I can handle it." she said jaggedly.

"Okay go and lose more money at those races then." said Spike.

"That's none of your business, so stop insinuating things." said Faye.

"I know it's not any of business, I just think it's stupid."

"Oh what so just because the rest of us don't have the luck you do it's stupid to gamble?"

"I have luck and I barely even like going, so what does that say to you?"
"That you're pretentious."

"At least I'll keep my money instead of making those rich-boy casino owners' wallets even fatter."

"What are you trying to accomplish with this Spike? Do you not want me to go or what?"

"It's not that I'm just telling you that you're wasting your money, when you should be paying off those debts you go on and on about."

"So you do you care about my wellbeing, is that it?"

"Well… uh… no well I mean…"

"Just stay clear of my ship Spike, we all know that you're just going to be some closed off asshole so stop wasting my time." said Faye.

Spike backed up so Faye could close the hatch to the Redtail. Once the hatch closed Faye turned on the Redtail and turned the handles. The Redtail hovered in the air and thrusted forward. She maneuvered her way around the Swordfish and Hammerhead and flew out of The Bebop's hangar. The hovering threw around debris and gusts of wind, knocking over Jet's tools from the wing of the Swordfish. Jet growled angrily as he heard his tools clatter onto the floor. Spike stood there and watched the Redtail leave with a blank look on his face. He sighed and returned to helping Jet with the Swordfish for the rest of the day.

On Mars Lee, Shiro, Dodge, and two other Red Dragon members walked into the entrance of a tall skyscraper. They passed the front desk and headed toward the elevators. Dodge pushed the button to call the elevator down. He put his hands in his coat pockets and stared at Shiro irately. Dodge tapped Lee on the shoulder and motioned to move away from the group. Dodge and Lee moved away a few feet from Shiro and the other two Red Dragon members.

"What's Shiro here for?" asked Dodge in a low voice.

"You bring your team, I'll bring my own." said Lee.

"I thought you said this 'cabinet' of yours wasn't fit for this kind of job."

"I didn't say that."

"Well not exactly, you might as well have."

"Don't put words in my mouth Dodge."

"I'm sorry sir. But still, why him?"

"I'm going to need someone to plot it out with afterward; I think it'd be proper if they were actually here."

"So he's not here for backup?"

"That's what you're here for Dodge."

Dodge sighed. "You're really cutting me off here." he said.

"I already said you'd be heading the enforcers Dodge, what more do you want?!" said Lee in a hushed tone.

"More than this sir, I used to be able to help you make the decisions for the syndicate."

"Things change Dodge. We're on the verge of exponential growth and you're grumbling that you're not involved?"

"Yes that's exactly why!"

"I made you the head enforcer because it's going to be important, your hands are going to be plenty full so I suggest that you keep your sights away from the business aspect of the syndicate."

The elevator dinged and the doors opened on the first floor.

"Sir, come on it's open." said Shiro.

Dodge and Lee turned their attention to the elevator. "This discussion is done, okay Dodge?" said Lee. He walked away to the elevator and Dodge trailed along. The Red Dragon members piled into the elevator and Shiro pushed the button on the console while his other hand held a briefcase. The elevator doors closed and the carriage went up.

When the elevator arrived on a higher-level floor the doors re-opened and the Red Dragons walked out into the hallway. The carpet was gray and the walls were painted a dark yellow. Plants in pots were placed alongside the walls. When the Red Dragon members reached a door near the end of the hallway, Lee opened the door and they all entered inside an empty waiting room playing slow jazz music on the speaker.

The members went in and sat on the padded chairs that were set along the walls. Lee, Shiro and one member sat in the chairs on the left side of the room that was next to the office door. Dodge and the other member sat along the entrance wall. Dodge looked around and saw the secretary behind the front desk talking on the phone; she was turned away from the view of the waiting room. He turned his attention to the right wall and saw a camera in the top corner of the room. Dodge stood out of his chair and pressed against the entrance wall. He stood on a coffee table with magazines on it and disconnected the cable from the camera and turned it off. Dodge stepped down from the coffee table and sat back in his chair. They sat quietly for a while when Gene Kleinman exited out of the office. He stood there and stared at all of them sitting in the waiting room.

"Can I help you gentlemen? I only see clients by appointment only." he said.

"I think you can afford to make this one exception." said Lee standing out of his chair. The rest of the members stood out of their chairs and walked toward the office.

"Whoa fellas not all at once." said Gene nervously.

"Get back in the office." said Dodge forcefully.

One of the Red Dragon members then flashed a handgun holstered on his torso. When Gene saw it he panicked. "Oh God, oh God, oh God." he said running back into his office. They all entered inside the office and Lee closed the door behind them and locked it. Gene ran toward his desk and took out a revolver from his desk drawer. He was going to point it at Lee and the others but Dodge came up from behind him and grabbed Gene by his suit. Dodge slammed Gene onto his desk and he dropped the revolver. Dodge threw Gene back into his office chair while Lee and Shiro sat in the sofas on the other side of the desk. The other two enforcers stood on both sides of Gene and held his arms down on the arm rests of the chair. Dodge shut the blinds and turned off the lights. Lee then turned on the desk lamp and shined it Gene's face.

Gene was breathing rapidly as the enforcers tied his arms down. "No! What… What do you want from me?" he asked while trying to catch his breath.

"You're Gene Kleinman, we know you work for Blue Snake and don't try to deny it, we have a very in depth file on you right here." said Lee turning to Shiro. Shiro opened the briefcase that was on his lap and Lee grabbed a manila folder from it and put it onto the desk.

Gene wiped the sweat on his forehead with his shoulder and looked at the file. "You mean… they were monitoring me?" he asked.

"And is it really worth it? I have a copy of your paystub here too, very pitiful if you ask me." said Lee.

"What do you guys want? Who are you?" asked Gene.

"You can call me Lee, I'm part of the Red Dragon syndicate. I'm positive you've heard of us." said Lee.

"Yeah I've heard of you obviously, but whatever Vaughn and Pulaski did to you I can tell you already I'm not involved in any of that, I'm just the lawyer."

"You already seem to give up very easily. Now I'm thinking I can persuade you to help us and we won't kill you."

"Help you how?"

"I have a few ideas." said Lee.

In the Ganymede police station Donna exited out of the sergeant's office with Bob with a proud smile on her face.

"Man, he gave you the go ahead without hearing from the captain first." said Bob.

"The sergeant has a soft spot for me, what can I say?" said Donna.

"Yeah well wait until the upper echelon hears, they'll probably put some guys from another planet on the case."

"C'mon why would they do that? Who better to catch a criminal on Ganymede than someone who knows it like the back of their hand?"

"Yeah but someone's who's been away for a couple years…"

"Knowing a place is like muscle memory, it comes back to you easily."

"Okay well, we'll go check it out tomorrow then. Did he say who else?"
"Him and the other detectives that were already looking for Bardon will go."

"All right Shapiro, looks like you got yourself a case." Bob began to walk away and Donna turned him back around.

"Wait. About Basque… do you really think he was behind the whole thing?" asked Donna.

"It's possible." said Bob.

"I'm going to be honest that's one part scares me a little. Because if he is then things are gonna get heavy for me."

"Look, only Demetrius' DNA was found on the vantage point, so only focus on catching him. Basque is for another day."

Donna nodded her head. "All right." she said.

"I don't believe you," said Lee, "You really expect me to believe that Marius Basque is just handing you weapons?"

Gene squirmed around in his chair. "Yes, he cut a deal with Vaughn and Pulaski, he wanted our syndicate to be on top. Basque said that 12% of all of our profit goes to him, I have all the paperwork on it." he said.

"What was the 12% getting too much, so you had to come and steal from us?"

"The only reason Basque gave us supplies was so we could do away with any competition and we would be the biggest syndicate; thus making him more money in the process."

"All right. I want to talk to Basque."

"Well, uh, he's a very busy man and I uh-

"Now!" shouted Lee.

Then a knock came at the door. Everyone in the office looked at the door.

"Is everything okay in there sir?" asked the secretary through the door.

Dodge then pulled out his gun and pointed it at Gene.

Gene became nervous. "Uh… no Miriam everything's okay." he said.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes Miriam."

Lee leaned in over the desk. "Tell her to go away and leave the building." he whispered.

"How?" asked Gene in hushed tone.

"I don't care how, just do it." said Lee sitting back down in his chair.

"Uh Miriam, could you go get my lunch please?" asked Gene.

"Where from?" asked Miriam.

"Uh, anywhere, I could eat just about anything right about now. Take as much time as you need!" said Gene.

"Okay you're the boss!" said Miriam as she moved away from the door. Everyone in the office stayed quiet for a moment. When they heard the door to the waiting room open and close Dodge pulled his gun away from Gene.

"Okay now, I want to speak to Mr. Basque." said Lee.

"I'm not in direct contact with him, but I have the line to his business lawyer." said Gene.

"Oh great more of you." said Dodge.

"Dodge, please. Okay Mr. Kleinman who is this lawyer you speak of?" asked Lee.

"Eleanor Veidt; she does a very similar job to me but all for the Basque Corporation." said Gene.

"Well call her then." said Lee.

"But she's on Ganymede right now I can't bother-

"Call her now!"

"Okay fine… can I at least have one hand untied?"

Lee nodded his head and one of the enforcers untied Gene's left arm. Dodge pointed his gun again at Gene. "Don't try anything either." said Dodge. Gene nervously picked up the phone and dialed a phone number. The phone began ringing for moment. Then Eleanor answered the phone.

"Gene I told you to stop calling me." she said over the static on the phone.

"Uh, no this important actually." said Gene.

"What is it?" asked Eleanor.

"I have someone who is very interested in talking to Mr. Basque."

"Who?"

"Umm a Mr. Lee."

"Well why didn't he call himself?"

"He's here right now."

"I'm on speakerphone?"
"Yes."

"Okay look Mr. Lee, Basque isn't on Mars right now and neither am I so you'll have to try again some other time." said Eleanor.

"Ms. Veidt, I'm sure Basque is a very busy man but I'm looking to buy from him and I believe he'd be very happy to make a deal with us." said Lee.

"Who are guys, exactly?" asked Eleanor.

"The Red Dragon syndicate, we're all very pleased to make your acquaintance Ms. Veidt." said Lee.

Eleanor stayed silent on the phone.